Give Me Forever
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: It started out as a simple one night stand that became much too complicated for Kurama when he awoke from his drunken haze- mated of all things to a human woman who does not know she is his. Kurama/OC as usual rated M. R&R.
1. Chapter 1

It was an accident.

An honest to god accident of the 'why me' variety that had happened mostly because he had drank too damn much at his mother's wedding. Which was why he had woken up in an unfamiliar bedroom, in an unknown bed. His long red hair slipping over a bare shoulder as he tried to get his bearings and was having trouble because of the merciless pounding in his head.

The room he was in was nothing like his own bedroom at home. For instance, as far as he knew- he didn't have such a peculiar collection of watercolors and oil paintings of bright and cheery flowers that just seemed to make his head pound harder. The walls were covered on one side of the room in nothing but book shelves, another with a small chair, there was bedside table with a small lamp, his wrist watch and the blood red rose he'd had pinned to his tux jacket last night.

Frowning at that thought, he moved slightly. Not much. Just enough to confirm his suspicion that he was currently naked, and lifted up the sheets tangled around his waist and quickly dropped them as he noted his nakedness and muttered a curse and tried to recall all of what had happened the night before and vaguely recalled the young woman who had been paired with him for the wedding.

His 'date', his mother had called the girl. When she knew damn well that he could get his own date. She had just thought the young lady was nice and was hoping that he might think so too.

And he had. Before the alcohol had seeped into his mind and made him capable of forgetting just _who_ and _what_ he was enough to do something foolish like mate with someone who was the total opposite of himself.

"Oh god..." He muttered under his breath as he brought a hand up to cover his mouth, feeling as though he was going to have a panic attack at any moment now when he heard soft footsteps outside of the bedroom and jerked his head in the direction of the sound.

Emerald eyes widening as the door slipped open and a beautiful young woman with long mid back length hair (the same color as a raven's wing) with some of her bangs curling fetchingly around her jaw. Wide turqouise blue eyes with neon around the outter rims. Smooth ivory skin with a soft touch of rose. And a beautifully petite body safely hidden under a aqua colored long sleeved button down shirt and faded jeans- peeked into the room and looked right at him.

And Kurama felt everything in him freeze as he caught the female's scent even from across the room.

Oh shit. He knew the difference between human sex and demon bonding during sex. Knew that he could easily walk away from one...but not the other. And while he could smell some stuff in the room in which he was currently resting- so far all his nose had managed to pick up on was his human body- sweating heavily.

So the fact that he could smell not just sex, but himself bound to the woman currently looking at him, was beyond his human/demon mind's ability to wrap around. I mean Christ, he was mated. _Actually. Fucking. Mated._

To a human.

While inibriated!

And while he wasn't the first human to do so- he most definately must be the first demon to ever do so since demons had no equivalent of Vegas.

Mouth dry, he pushed himself up so that he was sitting and studied the young woman for a moment and wondered at what he was supposed to do when she slowly entered the room and walked over to the bed with several things in both hands.

(1) A small pile of clothing was tucked under one arm. (2) A glass of water. And (3) What he assumed to be something for his headache. Gratefully accepting the water and medicine from her- he took the tablets and sipped his water as she set the clothing down and waited for him to set the glass down before actually speaking.

Her voice was low, barely a whispered tone as she said lamely. "M-Morning." As unsure of the proper protocols to a one night stand as Kurama was- he wasn't very sure a simple polite greeting would cover the basics of just how he was supposed to behave. But he went with it anyways, all while mentally lamenting about humans and why the hell hadn't they created a guide book yet to help the fools who had fallen into pitfalls.

Come to think of it, the next time he had to see Koenma he would suggest a guide book for dummies or something.

Exhaling, he scrubbed his face with his hands then looked back at his mate for a moment and then gave her a tight lipped smile before saying, "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

She nodded her head almost shyly and asked him the same thing. Making him smile as she told him to that if he wanted to sleep longer, she'd come back in an hour or two to wake him to see if he wanted to take a shower and eat something- and as sweet as her offer was, Kurama felt as if his mind were screaming at him to go ahead and use the facilitys and possibly eat something then run like hell to somewhere far, far away.

Not that he wouldn't be back or anything. He was mated for god sake. He couldn't go more than a mile or two in any direction away from her. But she didn't know that any more than she knew they were now mated. So natrually...he had quite a bit to think on and even more to adjust too. Not to mention that he needed to find a way to intigrate himself into his young mate's life somehow.

She shifted slightly on the matress and made to move and get up to leave him when his hand shot out and gripped her wrist gently and pulled on her arm just enough to topple her over semi across his lap. The pressure of her slender body pressing partially against him from chest to hip was an exquisite torture, but one that Kurama would gladly bear the rest of his unnatrual life.

Squeaking slightly as her face wound up pressed against his collarbone with his hand threading through her soft hair. He let go of her wrist to wrap his arms around her and breathe in her natrual scent, hidden under his own demon scent.

Her scent was...peculiar. Sweet, but not too sweet. Clean and fresh and yet- As nice as it was he couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was that she smelled of.

While most people smelled of flowers, powders, their favorite foods and such.

Mei smelled of a confection of more charmingly earthy delights. Like chamomile, lemongrass, rose hip, jasmine, spices and honey. All in all it was a beyond pleasant scent to the fox demon. So much so that he wondered how she came about such a unique scent. He would have asked her about it, except that Mei had somehow managed to wedge her little hands between their bodies and was lightly pushing against him. Forcing him to release her somewhat.

"Something wrong?" Kurama asked curiously as he let Mei lean back just enough to study him just as intently as he was studying her.

She stared at him for several heartbeats before shaking her head slowly and muttering, "No, nothing's wrong." Except perhaps he was being more than a little affectionate after their one night stand and she didn't understand _why_. Asking him what he was doing however was out of the question since it seemed like the best way to insult him. So she kept her mouth closed about his affectionate attitude and instead turned her mind to more mundane things.

Like breakfast.

She for one was starving.

"Um, do you want to go ahead and take a shower and then come downstairs for breakfast?" He seemed to consider the idea for several moments before smiling at her and reaching out to pick up the clothes that she had brought for him and then started to climb out of the bed but paused for a moment to lean in and brush a soft kiss along the corner of her lips.

Causing her to squeak again as she blushed while he stood and walked towards the bathroom, giving his new, alluring little mate a peek of his nice backside.


	2. Chapter 2

While in the shower several things came to mind for the ancient fox demon/human hybrid.

(1) The water was wonderfully warm enough to unknot his previously knotted muscles.

(2) He was recalling a lot of stuff from last night all of a sudden. And I do mean a lot. Like how the moment he and Mei had hit the bed, still barely clothed, he had flipped her over onto her stomach with such amazing speed and force that he had frightened her a little. And who could have blamed her for feeling that way when he had spent maybe a second or so trying to sooth her before his inner demon had practically jumped her bones.

The first time he had taken her, he had done so as Yoko. The change had been an sub concious one. He now recalled this with startling clarity because he had bitten her on the nape hard enough to draw blood when she had accidentally pulled out some of his hair. Which was bad since he was now sure that she sported a mark on her nape that looked like or closely resembled that of an open rose in bloom.

The second time he'd taken her, he'd been in his human form, thank god. Having his demon form sated for the moment he had reverted back to normal and had been able to take his time about things.

He remembered flipping her back over so that she was laying on her back, pinned underneath him. Her pretty glazed eyes looking right at him as he ran his hands up and down her body before promptly ripping what was left of her clothes off. Which was a pity since they had come from a nice boutique down town. And he wasn't a hundred percent on this- but he was at least fifty percent sure but something had had a zipper...somewhere... Amongst all of the torn satin and lace.

After the second time, Mei had nodded off next to him, leaving him to kiss and nuzzle at her shoulder, cheeks, fingertips and whatever else he could get his drunken hands on up until he fell asleep.

And then there was the third and most important thing he recalled from the night before.

He...hadn't been wearing protection when he mated with Mei. And that was bad. Very, very, very, _very_ bad. Demon's as a general rule were more than just a little capable of impregnanting those weaker than themselves in one go. Especially humans. And as far as he knew the few humans that had ever become impregnated by demons- often died during the birthing process. Either because of blood loss or because the breed of demon in particular ripped a majority of the woman's insides out to feed upon.

Sort of like the Alien's movies that Yuskue was so fond of.

And he didn't want his mate to suffer such a cruel fate. Especially when it meant that he'd die with her. As selfish as it sounded, he wasn't anywhere near ready to die yet, thank you very much.

Sighing, he reached out and turned the tap off and just stood there for a second wondering how he was going to settle into Mei's life. Proposing marriage to her immidiately after their one night stand would be, well- more than a little alarming. Perhaps even weird.

His old habit of stalking was out of the question. At least where she could catch him at it openly anyways. So he would have to resort to what he called, 'half assed' tactics to gather information. He'd start with something like twenty questions to find out what she did for a living since he'd been too shit faced last night to actuall recall what her reply had been.

But he thought it was something along the line of either a nurse for the elderly, a worker for a local bookstore, a jewelry maker, or a writer... Well, he hadn't paid much attention since he'd been distracted by her *ahem* womanly attributes. Like the lush curves of her breasts which had been straining somewhat against her dress last night.

Sighing at all the information he would need to gather, and wishing that gathering it wouldn't prove to be such a headache for him- he reached up and gathered his thick red hair in both hands and gave it a nice twist to wring out some of the eccess water lingering in the silken strands. Then once that was done reached for the curtain and pulled it back and then paused and flushed and then quickly used his hands to cover himself when he saw Mei standing just a few inces away from the shower, looking at him wide eyed.

Her cheeks were flushed and he got the funny feeling that he wasn't supposed to have caught her in the bathroom with him as she started to stutted out an apology and said weakly, "I-I just came in to grab my toothbrush..." And then quickly grabbed said item and then turned and without another word ran from the bathroom, leaving him there to wonder if perhaps he had done something wrong by hiding himself from her.

But quickly dismissed this thought since she had been all but mortified by seeing him naked. Or perhaps she had been mortified by being caught in the bathroom with him when he was done showering?

He wasn't sure which it was. But he made a mental note to bring her out of her shell a bit once they were together. Otherwise she'd be really shocked by his usual lack of modesty.


	3. Chapter 3

Mei let her feet carry her away from where Shuichi Minamino-san had been showing until she reached the kitchen and her stomach hit the outter rim of the sink. Heart pounding so hard that she could scarcely hear herself think. She reached out and turned on the tap full blast so that she could at least _appear_ as if she were doing something as mundane as brushing her teeth as she tried desperately to get a grip on herself.

But it was difficult when the person she had admired since she was a little girl was not only in her home but naked. Naked for pete's sake! Now everytime she saw him she'd see him naked...

_What a disaster._

She closed her eyes for a moment and caught brief flashes of what had occurred the night before. All that soft, sun kissed skin under her fingertips. Those scarlet red silken locks... His lips covering her own almost aggressively at first and then coaxing a response from her own as her mind went blank.

His hands and long elegant fingers touching, running along smooth hairless skin as his mouth laved and then latched onto various parts of her body. Her nape, her collar bone, her breasts and lower. The soft rumbling purrs he made mixing with her own soft gasps and shocked cries as he demanded her total surrender to him.

Putting a shakey hand over her mouth, she stared at the water circling the drain for...well she wasn't sure how long. But it was evidently long enough for Shuichi to manage to sneak up behind her and turn the tap off. Jolting her out of her thoughts as she turned her head to look at him and flushed again when she noticed just how close he was to her.

"Mei?" He looked as if he wanted to ask her what was wrong.

She almost let out a hysterical laugh as she thought. Wh_at isn't wrong here? _She had literally brought home her childhood idol and slept with him despite being intoxicated the night before. And now here he was fresh out of the shower and... She looked him over and found that he hadn't bothered with the shirt she had brought for him to wear.

Maybe because it was too small for- holy shit! Were those abs real? She wondered as she glanced down at his abs noting that unlike most people who excercised and such, his stomach had a subtle six pack on it. Making her fingers itch to reach out and trace each muscle and watch the play of skin move over them.

She felt his fingertips under her chin, lifting her flushed face so that he could look her in the eyes- and almost fainted on him the second their eyes met.

Honestly her knees went weak like jelly and before she realised what was happening, Shuichi had her in his arms bridal style and was walking through her home to the livingroom where he sat down and placed her in his lap as if she belonged there. "Mei, are you alright?" He asked wondering if the smell currently coming from her was some sudden by product of their mating.

After all, he had never had a mate before. And as such he wasn't exactly sure what to expect aside from his demon's allure. Which basically made him irrisistable to his mate. And while that in itself was all well and good in small doses. If either of them became consumed by the allure then they would die.

Which was part of the reason why he was somewhat worried at the moment. He could smell Mei's body's chemisty trying desperately to change to match his own. And the scent was far more appealing than any flower he had ever encountered in the human world or demon world. It begged for his attentions and only the fact that he was strong willed, and Mei herself seemed to be fighting against it in her own meager way- saved them both from being consumed.

Mei seemed to struggle for a moment to think of what to say before stuttering out, "Y-You're not w-w-wearing a sh-sh-shirt!" As if ignoring his question was the best move to make. Glancing down at himself he noted that she was right and almost giving her a crooked smirk in amusement as he made a humming sound and gave her a hooded glance before saying in a mock shocked tone,

"So I am. We could fix that you know." He said slyly as his fingertips that had been resting on her hips, shifted up a tad to ghost playfully over the soft skin of above the waistband of her pants, earning yet another shocked squeak from her as she stiffened then started to squirm in an effort to escape.

Only making him want to play with her a little bit more as his fingers traveled up from her waist to her ribs before he wrapped his arms around her and brought her in close to his chest and laughed softly in her ear before kissing her temple and releasing her. And watched as she was up and across the room in an instant with her back to the wall, her body facing him.

Her eyes wide as she studied him, he like wise studied her.

Where she seemed awkward and troubled by this mess. He was calm and collected- No not there! Don't press you're back completely against the wall! _Well damn..._ His mind all but howled as seeing her in such a submissive position brought to mind all kinds of naughty things that he could do to her.

Things like kneeling on the floor in front of her with her legs spread to accomadate his shoulders as he licked and nipped and sucked at her core until she fainted from the ecstasy of it all. And then replacing his mouth with his cock and-

Pausing at that particular thought, Kurama shook his head slowly and looked around the room and suddenly realised that he was alone. _Good grief_, He thought. Here he was only mated since last night and he was already turning into Yusuke. And as a result he'd lost his Mei!

There was some soft clincking sounds coming from the kitchen and got up once he managed to get a better hold of himself and his hormones and went to investigate and found Mei setting out their breakfast. Looking up from her task as he peeked into the room she blushed and stammered out a quick apology for leaving him in the living room alone like that- but she hadn't wanted their breakfast to burn.

The truth of the matter was that she was lying to him. He could smell it, but due to the fact that she didn't know him any better than he knew her- he didn't really question it. Instead he let it slide and thanked her for the food since she seemed to have gone out of her way to make a nice meal.

Grilled fish, rice with ginger sauce (for their hangovers if they had them) small salads with fruits in them and a light dressing that appeared to be homeade, and vegetable soup.

"Sorry, Shuichi," She said again as he finished looking over everything before glancing back at her. Curious to know what she was apologising for this time. "I-I wasn't expecting anyone when I went to the store a few days ago so this is all I had to make for breakfast." He narrowed his eyes at her a little bit for a moment before carefully blanking his expression and pulling out a seat and sitting down.

"Nonesense. This is fine." He tried to assure her, not particularly happy that she felt the need to continueally apologise for nothing. "I can see that you went to a great deal of trouble for me- Thank you." He said as he picked up his chop sticks and begun eating. Surprisingly enough, his Mei was a decent cook.

Everything was delecately flavored so that it would not turn his stomach after all of the alcohol he had consumed the night before. And all in all, his mate was proving to be a very kind and considerate young woman.

Perhaps this accidental mating of his wouldn't be something so stressful after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Kurama was silent for several minutes as he picked his way through the food that Mei had placed in front of him before looking up and catching her staring at him almost as if in disbelief before noting that her own food was yet untouched.

Lowering his chop sticks a bit, he swallowed what had been in his mouth- a half chewed baby tomato- and asked, "Why aren't you eating?" His tone sounding somewhat more aggressive than he meant it to be.

She seemed to mentally shake herself and looked away from him as she muttered a soft, "I normally don't eat in the morning." Which he translated into- 'I'm not hungry right now.' and narrowed his eyes upon hearing. The demon in him straining to break through the barriers he had erected in his mind to supress it and it's instincts even as it cried out.

His mate was practically starving herself- Such behavior was not to be tolerated!

As the male it was his job and duty to protect and care for his mate. That was a given no matter what kind of demon he was, however foxes were infinitely different.

Should their mates prove incapable of caring for themselves (by hunting, killing, defending themselves and such) then it was his job to get up off of his ass and run down as many rabbits and phesents as he could and rip their damn heads off to offer his female as food and then set up as many deadly traps as possible without snaring her within one.

However because he couldn't defer to his demonic side in this matter, he would have to take a much different approach.

Setting his chop sticks down for a moment he decided to try coaxing her into eating using charm. It had often been what he had used on his mother when she had become gravely ill so perhaps it would work for him. Forgetting for a second that he had manners drilled into his head by his mother- he proper an elbow on the table and then settled his chin in his palm and said in his gentlest most irresistible tone, "Will you please try? For me? I'm beginning to feel lonely eating by myself..."

Flushing slightly, Mei started to look a tad bit uncomfortable to him. So he tried one last push. "If you don't want to feed yourself then perhaps I should feed you, hn." He said adding a tad bit of a seductive tone to his voice hoping that she wasn't totally immune.

Thankfully she wasn't. The second she made his tone and the emotion behind it her chop sticks were in hand and she was practically wolfing down her food faster than she could chew it.

Which both amused and surprised him since he hadn't known there was another person in the country who could wolf down their food as quickly as he usually did when others weren't watching.

Why his mother used to comment when he was younger that the moment he had food in front of him during lunch or dinner that she was afraid to reach for anything. The running joke was that she'd probably lose a hand or something.

Of course back when he was much younger- he hadn't bothered to correct her assumption because she was probably right. Demon young ate anything and everything they could get their hands on. Even if it wasn't food. It was simply the way they were from birth.

Still... Unless Mei happened to be a demon hybrid as well- he should probably get her to slow down before she wound up choking on her food.

"Um... Mei-"

"Mmm?" Mei made the sound around the food in her mouth as she shoveled in a little more and then suddenly paled and dropped her chop sticks and dish- sending what was left of her food across the table as she thumped her chest several times.

Blanching Kurama practically jumped out of his chair and yanked her out of her own and thumped her on the back as hard as he could without injuring her and waited with bated breath for her to cough and start wheezing for air. He must have grit his teeth each time he thumped her on the back, because every time he touched her his jaw ached a little more.

One minute passed.

Then two, and then finally as it occurred to him to try and call for help on her phone, she finally managed to swallow the bit and slumped back against him coughing and wheezing. Exhaling in relief, Kurama made a mental note to try breaking her of her bad habits while working on breaking his own.

His foolish need to see to her health could have cost her her life. And that was yet another thing that was unacceptable to him.


	5. Chapter 5

"Mei? Mei! Are you alright?" Kurama asked in a concerned tone that bordered of panicked as he hugged her against him and took a moment to look around before realizing that perhaps she should sit down somewhere and catch her breath.

And while she was catching hers- perhaps he could work on getting his heart to stop beating so erratically. But since he was in his human body, he doubted that he would manage to calm his heartbeat any.

Maneuvering them both over to the nearest chair, he gently pushed her down into it and said something about getting her a glass of water or milk or juice and then dashed off to her kitchen where he spent the next ten minutes or so going through her cabinet, and her fridge before realizing that milk and juice were off the menu.

So maybe tea would be better?

Curiously he looked around until he found what was needed- a kettle, and some stuff to make tea and noted as he went through the various boxes she had cluttering her counter next to the stove, and noted that she had some specific herbal tea blends that helped with digestion, the immune system, and several other things.

Quickly making a decision between something with ginger, vanilla, honey, and chamomile mixed with some milk tea, he put everything together and then fetched the kettle from the stove and poured some water into the cup and let the tea steep for several moments as he listened to the faint sounds of Mei's breathing in the other room.

Her breath was even, steady, the sound of which calmed and soothed his rattle nerves.

You know, aside from Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara and his mother- that was quite possibly the closest he'd ever come to holding someone he cared for while they died. So it was just a bit unsettling to him how quickly a life could randomly be snatched away, He thought before slowly shaking his head.

He was a fox demon dammit!

And while he was used to being of a predator-like mind, knowing that he was now bound body and soul to such a fragile creature nearly killed him inside.

Finishing with the tea, he made his way into the living room to find Mei laying- stretched out on the couch with one arm thrown over her eyes and her other hand resting on her stomach. "Mei, I have some tea that might sooth you're throat if you'll sit up for a moment and drink some." Kurama said as he set the cup down on the coffee table within reaching distance.

Mei glanced at him from under her arm for a moment, but said nothing before letting out a soft sigh and slowly sitting up with a murmured thanks as she picked up the cup and took a small experimental sip. Wincing slightly at the hotness of the water before putting it back down and licking her lips to sooth the sting she felt there before saying softly but seriously.

Obviously to distract him.

"I don't mean to be a downer or anything Shuichi. But w-what exactly happens now? It's kind of been bugging me all morning. I'm not sure what to do with you."

Blinking at her words, yet somehow having been expecting them- Kurama set his tea cup down and then gracefully sat down next to the couch and tilted his head back a bit to look at her. She wasn't looking at him, however she was nervously fidgeting, using her fingertips to trace little patterns into her pants leg as a faint hint of a blush stained her face.

It was adorable really. But it didn't answer her question.

Thinking for a moment, he propped his chin in his hand and looked at her and asked very seriously, "What would you like to happen now?" Because he saw this scenario going any number of ways. Some of which weren't good.


	6. Chapter 6

Time seemed to slow down for Kurama as he waited patiently for Mei to answer him.

Apparently she was trying to think of every possible scenario as well before she dared to answer. And damn him if he didn't respect her for it. But then he supposed that when putting oneself out there like she was with him- one must proceed with caution.

He sat there on the floor, as close to her couch as he could get without crowding her and sipped his tea as he waited until finally he could take no more of the suspense and asked again, "What would you like to happen now?" As he moved ever so slightly to set his tea aside so that it wouldn't be in the way and then leaned over Mei- noting the slight look of- worry? Anxiety? Nervousness?- that flitted across her face when he closed some more of the distance between their faces.

Causing Mei to blush and try to push back against the firm couch cushions in a slight effort to escape. Narrowing his eyes at her somewhat, he reached out to lightly grasp her wrists in his hands and brought her hands (god, they were so damned soft and delicate) to kiss her palms as he regarded her from hooded eyes.

She had that shy, adorable look on her face again as she watched him kiss first her palms and then move on to her fingertips. "S- Shuichi..."

"Hn," He hummed as he moved her hands away from his face so that he could bury his nose against her throat and inhaled deeply of her scent. Not really wanting to talk anymore.

"W-What are you doing?" Mei stammered as he nuzzled the side of her neck and the underside of her jaw almost playfully.

"Wishing we were back in bed," Shuichi said bluntly. "With you stripped naked and pinned under me writhing, while I take you." He said. Not bothering to sugar coat what was going through his head at the moment. Hey, he couldn't help it. He'd spent a majority of his human life ignoring the nearly constant painful aches in his groin- he'd had too just to survive. But now he was mated.

Which basically meant that he would be utterly useless until he satisfied his lust.

Mei's face flamed. Truly it did.

And who could blame her? After all, in all the years she had known Shuichi- he had never spoken so bluntly or coarsely. He had always acted as a gentleman. Nothing more and nothing less.

So to hear him suddenly say he wished to go back to bed with her...naked and have her under him writhing...was perhaps just a little more than her senses could take. Perhaps even more so than the feel of his lips pressed against the skin of her throat.

Feeling the fluttering, pulsing of her heartbeat under his lips as he kissed her again and again in the same spot, mainly because her clothing thwarted his attempts to get at more of her skin each time he nuzzled her- _Damn it all_, He thought as he suddenly found a very sensitive place and lightly bit down on it, tearing a hoarse cry from her throat as he released her and licked his lips.

"S-Shuichi!"

"Mei," He growled out as he let go of her wrists so that he could prop himself up and kiss her on the mouth. "My Mei." He said possessively as he leaned down, intent on closing what little space was left between them when all of a sudden- the phone rang.

Her phone to be exact.

Jerking back a bit, he scanned the room from underneath his long crimson hair and stopped only when he located the annoyance before letting his breath out in a small hiss from between his teeth and then looked back at his mate. Giving her a look that his friends called, _the-what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you_ look before asking, "Expecting a call?"

"No. Not unless I-I'm probably needed for work." Mei said after a second or so. He smiled at her and then reached out to grab her phone, but at the last moment grasped the chord and ripped it out of the wall.

"Good news," He said as he released the wire and turned back to her. "You have today off!" He said in mock excitement as she blanched a little bit and sat up, gaping at him.

"Shuichi! That might have been important!"

"Not today it isn't." He countered as he reached out and caught her chin in his hand, his thumb brushing along her lower lip. "Besides, we've still yet to discuss what it is you want from this relationship." He pointed out as she flushed a little more.


	7. Chapter 7

She was caught somewhere between laughing and crying, truly she was. As she stared up at Shuichi almost helplessly. His question once again slipping from her mind as some of his red, red hair brushed one of her cheeks causing her to jerk her chin slightly in his grasp and let out a shaky breath.

He was too close. It made it hard for her to think.

Not that he cared overly much since she heard him chuckle softly before saying against her lips, "My, but you're shaking like a little rabbit." He brushed his lips across hers while slipping his arms around her body and lifting her up a tad bit so that he could then run his tongue along her lips- shocking her to her very toes- if one could believe such things.

But shock her it did. Almost as much as what they had done last night. Because believe it or not, Mei was eerily similar to Shuichi when it came to sexcopades... she simply didn't have any to speak of.

No one night stands (Last night aside) to speak of.

No boyfriends or closely trusted friends that she felt any attraction to who could teach her about sex.

No penthouse forum. God she had to be one of the single most boring women in the world!

There was simply nothing. No experience's with men, no attachments- and that's why she was having a hard time trying to figure Shuichi out. He was acting as a boyfriend might after a romantic night spent with his lover... not like a guy who had gotten drunk, make a mistake, gotten his rocks off and now wished to leave before she got emotionally invested and began to cling to him.

No- he almost acted as if he _wanted_ her to cling to him. Hell she would even go so far as to say he wanted her to jump his bones and ravage him.

But how could that be? She just didn't understand.

He- He was amazing, athletic, highly intelligent (in fact he had been taking collage courses ever since he was in Jr. High, and had graduated and gone on to High School within two years and that had been while earning several different degrees in collage) not to mention he had a wonderful personality, and a drop dead gorgeous face to match his drop dead gorgeous body.

And his eyes! Ah- that beautiful emerald green eyes that seemed to know your every thought... And all that long scarlet colored hair.

And she- she was quiet, mousy, dark and gloomy... Everything that was the opposite of him.

Perhaps that was the reason why she had always watched him and wanted to know him better as a little girl. Hell, perhaps that was even the reason she had slowly fallen in love with him. People often said that you chase the sun and it in turn, chased you. And Shuichi could certainly be classified as a 'sun' so maybe that was why she had liked him for so long.

But it wasn't a good premise for a relationship. Especially a good one that would last. But then again, she had no idea if that was what he wanted as well. And he was making it just a tad bit hard for her to ask him when he was crowding her as he currently was.

With one hand tightly fisted in her hair to prevent escape as he pressed his mouth more firmly to her own until she felt as if her head were spinning. Which was probably why she barely noticed when he pulled away from her and licked his lips, a predatory light touching his green eyes as he took in her disheveled appearance.

He might have gone further, tried to persuade her to go back to bed with him if he could. But instead of doing as his body was currently raging at him to do... He wanted to know her thoughts on where he stood with her. And then he could kiss her some more.

And if she tried to get him to leave... he'd kiss her into submission and make her forget what she had wanted. He knew he certainly wasn't above using his own body to get what he wanted.

As long as it was Mei.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the slow update on this and pretty much everything else. **

**There was a shooting just several miles from where I live that on Thursday that killed several military officers.**

** And on top of that my hubby found a solid black male kitten, about eight weeks old, that had been abandoned where he worked. And now we're taking care of little Shadow until we can hopefully find him a good home and it's thrown _my_ home into total chaos because my four other cats can't make up their mind on whether they like him, love him, or just want to kill him. **

**And my hubby is sort of joining the ranks... (I think the cats used some sort of mind control on him)**

**There's already been three attempts on his little life and my cats currently hate me for interfering. So I'm a little bit frazzled at the moment.**

**Anyways, here is what I can get out for now. I hope it turns out okay and that ya'll enjoy it. As always, please R&amp;R.**

**Here we go- (cries)**

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"You're thoughts Mei." Kurama gently reminded her as she blinked at him almost owlishly. Her mind apparently blank at the moment which caused Kurama to smirk ever so slightly. He had known for most of his youth as a demon that his affections could be almost like a drug to the one he displayed them too, but he hadn't known it would be the same in his human form.

Although now that he thought about it and the enamored way Mei was acting, and perhaps it was for the best since it might work in his favor as far as wooing her went. Until then however, he needed her to tell him where he stood so that he could work towards his new goal in life.

She already bore the mating mark of his demon side. Which was fine.

But human's- unless they had extensive knowledge of demons- wouldn't understand what a mating mark was. Which meant that since he had already claimed her as a demon, he now had to claim her as his mate in the human way. With a wedding ring and vows said before witnesses.

Running his long slender fingers through her beautiful dark hair, he watched her watching his every action and asked again since his question still didn't seem to be permeating her mind, "What do you wish to do now?"

This time his question seemed to jar her out of her enamored state as she opened her mouth to speak only to shut her mouth again and get a strangely pained look on her pretty face for a moment before reaching up and placing one hand against his chest and _pushed, _if one could really call it that, slightly. Indicating to him that she wished to get up.

Kurama shifted around a bit and let her up. Noting that her body language was suddenly very difficult for him to read as her hand fell away from him and she wrapped her arms around herself and brought her knees up to her chest and said very softly, "I-I need to think. And I can't do that with you here distracting me..." Kurama's heart gave a sudden painful squeeze in his chest as he realized what she was doing.

She was trying to tell him to leave.

Knowing that he needed to stay close to her, yet also that she might have him arrested if he didn't go- he opted for the easiest way to go yet leave her with a way to contact him should she need him. Looking around, he easily found a small note pad and quickly wrote his mother's number, his number and address, Yusuke's phone number and address, Hiei's cell number, and last of all Genkai's number and address. And below each one he wrote down his schedule and time's he could most easily be caught with free time and then set the pad down where she could see it and hesitated a moment.

His demon half straining to free itself and make sure that he didn't leave her unprotected even as he leaned in and gave her a gentle peck on the cheek and whispered, "Please call me when you've made up you're mind." And then stood and left the room and then her home.

The front door clicking softly closed behind him as he went.


	9. Chapter 9

The moment Kurama was alone outside of Mei's loft apartment, he took a moment to replay how she had acted just before shutting him outside. She had been fidgeting, her lovely eyes staring at something just over his shoulder- giving the impression that she didn't want to look at his face.

Though why that was, he didn't know, but it had infuriated him to the point where he had crowded her personal space and forced her to look at him. The possessive nature of his inner demon practically growling, _Look. See. Remember my face. _As he had leaned down a bit and given her a slow and deliberately sensuous kiss on the cheek.

And could have sworn that he had tasted salt mixed with her natural drugging sweetness and had pulled back just enough from her and see that she was quietly crying.

He might have comforted her- god only knew that he had ached to do so, but she had then more or less shoved him out the door and slammed it closed before he could so much as speak.

So now here he was. Mated. And standing outside of the home of his mate, glaring at the door standing between them as his heart ached in his chest.

He didn't understand Mei. Truly he didn't.

Why had she asked him to go when she knew it would cause her pain? He wondered in confusion as he quickly analyzed Mei's reactions to him as well as what little he knew of her.

His Mei seemed like such a timid and skittish little thing. Shy and nervous. Yet so thoughtful and wonderfully sweet... Her personality made her an easy target for anyone who would wish to sample that sweetness and inflict injury upon her. Come to think of it, hadn't she dated someone a year or so ago?

Some guy from America that had come to their school. He crossed his arms over his chest and made a soft humming sound in the back of his throat. What had the man's name been? He wondered as he thought for a moment before finally coming up with the answer.

Conway. The man's name had been Jhonathan Conway. He'd been a year older than Shuichi, slightly taller with blonde hair and icy blue eyes. Kurama seemed to recall him vaguely because they had had several classes together. Biology and medical classes.

Jhonathan had taken them to become a doctor. Kurama had simply taken them to become a more efficient killer while in his human body. Because some part of his mind had nagged at him to learn all he could about human's and their anatomy for future reference. After all, demons weren't the only ones that tried to kill him and his friends. And now with Mei to be worried about...he was sure that the knowledge would come in handy at some point.

But he digressed. Jhonathan had been in several classes with him when he had become interested in Mei. Not that Kurama couldn't see the appeal that he had been so blind too all these years, now at least. But from what he recalled of Jhonathan's personality- he hadn't been a very nice guy.

In fact just a few weeks after he and Mei had started dating, she had began to show up at school with bruises- His train of thought coming to a screeching halt- Kurama's hands fisted in the fabric of his shirt, his knuckles going white as he fought against the urge to kick down Mei's door and go gather her up in his arms and hold her and try to sooth her.

But he didn't dare, not like this. There were simply too many turbulent emotions fighting within him for dominance for him to do so. Besides, he'd only wind up driving an even further wedge between them and would only serve to make her fear him. And perhaps that was the problem here.

After all Mei didn't really know him. She knew of him from school and from his mother, had spoken to him only a handful of times, all of which had been brief and awkward. So she knew of him but she didn't know-know him.

She didn't know if he was a violent person who like Jhonathan, would harm her. She was being cautious due to the damage inflicted upon her by the other male. And while he couldn't exactly say that he was happy about it, at least he could say that he understood to a degree.

He didn't have to like it though.

Releasing a breath that he'd been holding without realizing it, he dropped his arms back to his sides and stuffed his hands in his pants pockets and quickly looked around for anything familiar and felt his mood improve drastically when he realized that Mei lived only a block or so away from him.

Well within the mile or two perameter he could be away from her. Which was good, this way he could drop by her place whenever he felt the need to do so while planning out his next move in wooing her.


	10. Chapter 10

The moment Kurama stepped into his home a little while later, he slipped off his shoes and set his house key and wallet on the expensive solid oak table set up just a little ways from the front door and began to prowl.

Not walk or move through his home as a normal human may do. But actually honest to god **_prowl_ **from place to place as he was usually want to do when he was nervous or anxious about something while studying the different rooms, their layout, the expensive human and (*cough* stolen *cough*) demon décor...

Until finally after what seemed like forever to the fox demon, he came to a decision.

For starters, he would have to get rid of some of his antiques and some of the more threatening and demonic pieces he had collected and kept both as a human and his other self.

He didn't want Mei anywhere near anything that could possibly incinerate, freeze, or likely send her to on alternate dimension adventures. No sir, no way, nuh-uh. But then nor would he blindly think to keep any of his former treasures if they could place her under enchantments and make her more susceptible to his seed.

At least not until such a time as 1) They were ready for children. And 2) He had a demon healer who could help Mei give birth without losing her life.

He couldn't imagine anything more horrible than losing his mate the same day his offspring were born. Nor could he think of anything more aweful than slowly fading away to nothing while his young needed _both_ him and their mother to protect them and help them to survive.

Making his way to his den- yes, he had a den- he was a fox demon in human skin and some habits just weren't as breakable as others. So when he had moved out on his own, he had of course searched for a place with enough space to suit his needs and a little extra room for him to create his den. Which he had filled with an extra large hand carved ornate bed with white and soft green silk sheets, a small mountain of silk and satin pillows to match, a table in which to work, study, eat and all manner of other things- as well placed/grown a collection of exotic plants and flowering vines.

All of which's scents soothed his frayed nerves as he stepped inside and breathed deeply as he shrugged off his tux jacket and tossed it onto his bed before flopping down beside it and closing his eyes.

All these thoughts of an uncertain future and the stress that went with them were causing his headache to return. Reaching out he snagged the closest pillow to his head without looking and dragged it across the bed to where he lay. But instead of tucking it under his head as he had originally intended, he hugged it to his chest instead and used what little energy he had left to fish his cell phone out of his pants pocket and place it on the bed next to him and just lay there for a long while, staring at it.

Willing it to ring. And when it didn't, Kurama did the only thing he could truly think of to smooth things over with Mei.

He called the local florist and ordered over twelve dozen white lilies with little pink and purple bachelor buttons and silver colored accents. A large plush teddy bear holding a heart and a large plush rabbit too, just to cover all the bases, to be delivered to her home. And when asked what he would like the card being sent with everything to say, he replied.

"Roses are red, violets are blue- Please call me soon Mei or I'll have no choice but to stalk you." And in hindsight, it probably wasn't the smartest thing to say. Much less send to a woman already leery of him.

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Mei stepped out of her home and did her usual cautious looksee to make sure that Shuichi had indeed left. Not that she didn't trust him. Sort of. She just didn't know him very well. And after everything she had gone through to get rid of Jhonathan...well, she was just a little bit wary of letting a man so close to her again so soon.

Oh but last night had to have been a fluke. Or a cruel twist of fate.

Of all the things that could have happened, why had it been _that_? After all it wasn't everyday she was practically kidnapped by a neighborhood- uh, pal's mother and all but browbeat into accompanying said 'pal' to his mother's wedding.

And then there had been the liquor- she had never been a fan of it, had never even been able to hold it well- and this morning when she had woken up with a splitting headache, tangled up with the redhead of her dreams... She had quickly untangled herself and removed herself from the room for a good cry.

Honestly the chances of Shuichi Minimoto noticing her were practically a billion to one. And yet, there he had been, in her bed. His gorgeous long red hair loose and slipping over his broad shoulders, partially hiding his face as he slept on completely unaware of what had happened the night before when the clothing she had almost tripped on before did more than pain her a clear picture.

Not that she needed them too. The slight tenderness between her legs had helped her to fill in any blanks she may have had.

She had prepared herself before his awakening to have her heart ripped to pieces by him. He was after all uncharacteristically aloof for such a kind and well liked person, so for the life of her she couldn't understand _why_ he had been so sweet about the whole mess.

Nor could she quite understand why he had been so affectionate with her. His actions had seemed almost possessive. And that's what had scared her into having him leave.

Men as a general rule weren't possessive of women after they had had them. No, when a man got possessive it meant one of two things. Either there was more going on than she had thought or she had just snagged herself another Jhonathan Conway.

She could probably live with one. But until things were mapped out clearly, she couldn't chance the other.

Sighing she locked up her house and patted her pants pockets to make sure that she had everything she'd need for her little expedition to the local grocery store for food and stuff.

Money, house key, emergency money, insurance card- yup all there. Stretching her arms a bit over her head, she started walking. Her expression one of absolute boredom as she passed couples, families a few kids and buildings and shops while trying to momentarily forget all about Shuichi.


	11. Chapter 11

Upon returning home from her trek to the store, Mei paused outside of her house and blinked in puzzlement at the peculiar display before her.

There were, five human sized stuffed animal's raging from bears to rabbits with long floppy ears. All of which held either a note or large box of chocolates and were carefully arranged so that each one blocked her front door. And on either side of the stuffed animals- were display after display, after display of flowers.

Over twelve dozen vases of lilies, with little pink and purple colored bachelor button's. There were so many vases and displays that if not for the stuffed animal's with the boxes of chocolate's- her front yard could have easily been mistaken for a funeral parlor.

Blinking again at the weirdness of it all she sighed and decided to see who had sent everything, hoping against hope that she didn't have another stalker on her hands.

Plucking a note from one of the flower arrangements, she slipped the card from the envelope and looked over the words. And if she hadn't have had such a bad experience with her former boyfriend/stalker- she might have actually thought the little ryhme sweet.

But she wasn't the same naieve little girl she had been before Conway had entered her life, so naturally after reading the note as well as who had sent everything to her, she had one of two choices to make.

Either tell Shuichi Minimoto that his card was terribly inappropriate or get a restraining order.

Sighing at the weird sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, she took several moments to create an opening for herself by pushing the stuffed animals out of the way a bit.

And took a moment or so to unlock the front door to her home and then went back and collected her groceries and took them inside and set them down before walking back out and grabbed one particularly large box of chocolates from one of the plush animal's grasp and then walking back inside where she then closed the door and locked it, and then dropped to the floor with her back pressed against the door.

Her head hitting the sturdy wood with a resounding thud as she tried to visually block out the fact that the man she had been in love with since her days in school was quite probably a creeper. As she ripped the top off of the box in her hands and decided to eat one or two of the sweet confections as she tried to bolster her damned courage so that she could call Shuichi and see if he would mind backing off so that she could think.

She must have sat there for a good twenty minutes, just munching away on the candies while staring blankly ahead.

Swallowing the last bite that she'd taken of the candy her one night stand had so wonderfully sent to her- she fished out her cell phone and took a moment to look up Shuichi's number before calling him.

The phone didn't even have a chance to ring twice before he answered.

His husky voice muttering a lame sounding greeting. Pulling the phone away from her ear for a second, she looked at it funny. Why did he sound like he was asleep? Or at the very least used to be asleep. She wondered with a slight frown as she placed the phone back to her ear and said his name hesitantly.

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Kurama had been laying in on his bed in his den trying to grab a little more rest before Mei called him. In all honesty, he hadn't expected her to call him quite so soon. Especially since it was average or at the very least typical of human courtship rituals for both parties involved not to 'call' on each other for at least one or two days.

But then what the hell did he know?

He was a demon/human hybrid and most of his flipping knowledge on courtship came from observation. And nothing else.

So naturally when he had answered his cell. He had done so under the assumption that it was perhaps his mother calling to check in before she went on her flight to Hawaii or something. Or perhaps he had even expected one of his friends.

Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan, or even Hiei to be on the other end of the line.

He hadn't heard from them in a while and each one was well past due to check in with him since they all knew just how pissy he got when they didn't call him at least six or seven times a month to let him know that they were still alive and kicking.

God knew that the last time he'd gotten pissed at one of them for not checking in, he'd basically torn the city apart each day and night for over a week looking for said individual. And when he had finally managed to get his hands on them... Well- let's just say that the former spirit detective would be his bitch for quite some time unless he wanted the pictures of him dressed in a nice pink frilly dress to wind up going public.

So naturally, he had been expecting one of them. Which is why the moment he heard Mei's voice on the line, his eyes had snapped open as he had bolted upright in his bed.

The soft, honey sweet sound of her voice causing him to go from sleep to wakefulness in the span of a millisecond. "Mei! I didn't expect to hear from you so soon..." He said before he could stop himself by placing a hand over his own mouth to stop his useless prattle.

She didn't need to know what he had or hadn't expected.

Her voice sounded on the phone again, causing him to shiver slightly as he shifted his body somewhat in an effort to get more comfortable as he listened to her speak, _"Yeah well, I might not have had to call if someone hadn't have sent me chocolates, stuffed animals almost as tall as I am and so many flowers that my front yard looks like a funeral parlor." _His lips twitched up in a small smile as he said,

"Then you got them. I wondered..."

_"Yeah- I got them alright." _

"Do you like them?" He found himself asking curiously, wanting to know if she was pleased or not. She was quiet for a heartbeat or two before saying,

_"They're...nice enough." _The small pause in her sentence caused him to frown a bit. His heart thudding against his chest in sudden anxiousness.

"You sound as if you dislike them." He said in a questioning tone. His green eyes scanning the many treasures of his den as if perhaps one of them held the answers to his question.

A pity that his treasures had nothing to offer him in the ways of mortal comfort.

Her voice sounded again, politely telling him that the candy, stuffed animals and flowers were very nice. Thoughtful even. But he could sense an 'but' or 'however' somewhere in there. And waited for her to get on with why she had called.

It took him about five minutes to figure out the reason for the call.

Five, agonizingly slow and painful minutes of uncertainty and helplessness rolled into one. He _hated_ the feeling of helplessness and uncertainty. They brought forth unfamiliar feelings in him and he never reacted well to those 'feelings'.

Still he finally got the answer he wanted.

It was the card. She was calling about the card. He'd overstepped some invisible line that had been drawn and she was trying to push him back into his original position on the other side of it.

He apologized, of course. What else could he do but say that he was sorry?

He had merely said the words on the card to the florist because it was all that he could think of to say- even if it was more or less half true. Still, from the way it seemed from his conversation with his mate, his poor choice of words had apparently pushed back any real progress that he may have made today.

However after getting off of the phone with Mei after apologizing one last time, he flipped his cell closed and then sat there on his bed in silence as he planned his next few moves, _carefully_, since they would likely determine his and Mei's future.


	12. Chapter 12

_Sorry for the slow updates. _

_My adopted mom passed away after which I caught the flu for the first time since I was 12. And after I finally got rid of it I wound up with a cold or bug of some kind that caused me to accidentally ruin my comp by hurling on it. _

_So now I have a new one, and it's a little hard to use at the moment, but I'm adjusting._

_Anyways- I'm not sure if this will be a terribly long chap, so try not to hate me if it isn't. I'm sick again and running another fever of 102.6._

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The first few days after the last time he talked to Mei, he spent packing up his stuff and looking for a new place closer to her home. And after about a week in a half of not knowing what she was doing, he finally managed to find a house suitable to his needs.

And the best part was that it was practically across the street from where his mate lived!

Why anytime he wished to see her all he had to do was peer out of the master bedroom window and practically see Mei as she moved across her bedroom. In fact that was pretty much why he got the place aside from the space that it afforded him.

After all, he was thinking like a mated- er, newly married man.

The new place was a nice two story, four bedroom, three in a half bathroom cottage style house with a nice spacious front and back yard that was fenced in and everything. Which was perfect since he planned to do a little landscaping during the nighttime.

Rearranging everything in the yard so that he had normal human plants, roses, lilies, daffodils, lavender, cosmos, daisies, orchids, irises, willows, and flowering vines as well as several demon plants that he planned to plant along the perimeter of the yard to help him protect his mate.

A week later, he was moved in and already unpacking and putting things away when he happened to look up from the box he was going through and happened to glimpse Mei stepping outside of her home dressed in a black long sleeved, V-neck sweater and the same skin tight faded jeans that he had seen her in the morning after their mating.

Her long silken blue black hair was pulled back in a high ponytail at the back of her head and her bangs were pulled back away from her face by hair clips.

The very sight of her (though nothing had changed since he had last seen her) took his breath away. Truly it did.

It was simply the effect that she had on him and would likely have on him for the rest of their lives. But that was neither here nor there at the moment.

Mei was on the move.

And just like every other time she had left her home since he had moved in across the street from her, he got up and moved over to the window and then slipped out of the house and hit the alley outside of his new fenced in yard and began moving in an almost deft manner as he subtly began to shadow her from a slight distance.

Just in case she began to turn around or something. This way he had enough time to duck into an alley or store or something to keep himself from being caught.

After all, she still wasn't speaking to him at the moment and being caught more or less stalking her would be seriously bad for _their_ future relationship.

Keeping a safe distance from Mei while she went about her routine wasn't easy, considering the fact that his instinct demanded that he be near her at _all_ times. But for the most part he was able to squash the feeling so that he wound up giving her the time and space that she needed until she finally came back to him.

Today, it seemed as if she was doing nothing more than a little light window shopping since she was hitting nothing but boutiques and small businesses. So far she had bought a couple of scarves, some small to medium sized water color paintings of flowers and butterflies, several bracelet and earring sets and two handmade sterling silver pearl and crystal necklaces.

After that she headed to a small restaurant where she grabbed a little something to eat and then headed home.

All in all his mate's endeavor took a little over two in a half hours, but at least he got a good feel for some of the stuff and places that she liked to visit when she went out. It gave him some pretty decent ideas on where to get her a ring for when she finally accepted him.


End file.
